Last week did not go according to plan.
My wife ended up in the hospital and needed her gallbladder removed. (She’s okay now ❤️.)
I wrote last week’s newsletter from a hospital room, using…let’s call it optimistic Wi-Fi.
When the email went out this week, I opened it up and immediately noticed the bottom of the email had weird typos. The first letters of words were just missing. Weird punctuation and line breaks. Stuff I KNOW I didn’t put there.
And my first reaction COMPLETELY REASONABLE:
“Holy crap! How did this happen? This is such a disaster. I can’t believe I messed up.”
Cue the spiral.
Luckily, I had a trusted mentor to ground me.
And it reminded me of advice I give coaching clients all the time.
Not every workout is going to be great
Some workouts feel amazing.
Some feel clunky.
Some are cut short.
Some just don’t go to plan at all.
And that’s not a failure – that’s normal!
The only unrealistic expectation is that everything will go perfectly, every time.
Somehow, I’d slipped into the mindset that this newsletter had to be perfect. Every word. Every send. No exceptions.
Life (and hospital internet) had other plans.
The real win wasn’t setting up some sort of system to be perfect, forever.
It was choosing to move forward instead of beating myself up.
It didn’t stop there
I had my own advice thrown back at me a second time this week. 😅
A few months ago, I joined a group coaching program that helps you share your story on podcasts more effectively.
Funny twist: the coach running that group is also one of my Nerd Fitness coaching clients.
One of the things I helped him with was creating a sustainable fitness plan – something that didn’t require burning the candle at both ends, something he could actually stick with.
And it worked. He’s feeling great. It’s becoming part of his life.
Meanwhile, when it came to my podcast goals, my brain went straight to:
“Well, obviously I need to go all-in. Hours every day. Total commitment. If I’m not doing that…am I even trying?”
He gently reminded me:
“This is the exact same thing you teach in fitness.”
A little bit of consistent work each week goes a long way.
Systems beat perfection.
Sustainability wins.
And you know what? As soon as he said that, and I stopped putting unrealistic expectations on myself, I actually made MORE progress.
That’s the exact same feedback I got from a reader a few weeks ago:
Hi Matt, Thanks for this email – it came into my inbox at literally the perfect time. And, funny how feeling LESS pressure to have to squeeze in a workout today actually probably makes it MORE likely to happen 😉
Why I’m sharing this
In fitness, I’m very good at trusting the process.
Because I’ve seen it work time and time again.
Outside of fitness? Still learning. 😅
If you’re feeling pressure to:

Be perfect
Never miss a week
Go all-in or not bother at all

…it’s usually a sign that we need to step back and reassess.
That’s exactly what I’m going to be walking through in a live rapid-fire coaching session on Thursday at 3pm PST.
I’ll be fielding some of the most common questions we get from readers, and help you zoom out and look at:

How to tell if your current plan is actually working
How to build systems that survive busy weeks, low-energy days, and real life
How to keep moving forward without needing everything to be perfect

If that sounds helpful, I’d love to have you there.
​Here’s a link to register.​
Talk soon,
-Matt